Rise: A Gay Fairy Tale (15 page)

His ribs aching, Rion could barely speak. “Yes.” At Jack’s stricken expression, he added, “I’ll live. I promise.”

Jack took Rion’s face in his hands and kissed him soundly. “I’ll hold you to that.”

They inched away as Adair wobbled to his feet at the ledge of the portal, listing from side to side. He rubbed his hand across the blood dripping from his chest and lifted it to his face, blinking. “You’ve killed me, Jack.”

“Yes. I have.” Jack’s voice was steel, but his hand trembled. Rion clasped it in his own, threading their fingers together.

“You always were a surprise.”

With that, Adair sailed off the ledge and was gone. Rion and Jack shared a glance and then crawled to the edge. Aside from the curled end of the stalk below, there were only clouds, thin enough that Rion could spot patches of green far below in the valley.

They leaned against each other, breathing deeply. Rion tried to speak, and could do little more than croak, so Jack hurried off to bring him some water. He held the cup to Rion’s lips and helped him drink. It was cool, and Rion felt as though he could gulp it for days. When the cup was drained, he leaned back against a wall.

“Thank you.”

“Of course.” Jack brushed back the hair from Rion’s forehead.

“Not for the water. For coming back. They caught me unaware. I would be dead if not for you.”

Jack’s cheeks flushed and he glanced away, eyes downcast. “They wouldn’t have come here at all if not for me. Adair guessed where I’d gone. Knew I’d come back with gold. I’m sorry. As soon as I realized I came as fast as I could.” He caressed Rion’s cheek. “I hate that they spilled even a drop of your blood.”

“It’s not your fault. It was theirs. It was Adair’s.” He spat the last word, the name vile on his tongue. “He was the author of his own demise. Remember that.”

Jack nodded. Then he smiled sadly. “My sister is a widow. Despite everything, I’m sorry for her. For the children.”

“Do you…do you want to go back? If your family is in need…” Rion held his breath, uttering a selfish prayer in his mind.

But Jack only laughed ruefully. “Believe me, I’m the last person they’d want to see. No, the baron will provide for them. They’ll want for nothing. It’s for the best.”

“Do you think anyone will come to avenge them?”

A smile creased Jack’s face. “After their defeat at the fearsome giant’s hands, no one will go near the stalk all summer.” His smile faded. “Come now. We have to see to your wounds.”

“Wait. I want to show you something.”

Jack frowned. “What?”

“Just come along.” Rion grimaced as pain shot through his body. He ignored Jack’s reproachful look but didn’t argue when Jack wrapped his arm around Rion’s waist and supported him as they shuffled to the kitchen. He sat by the hearth for a moment, resting while Jack lit a candle at his request. Then he led the way into the chilly pantry.

“Are you hungry? I can bring you a tray in bed.” Jack’s frown deepened in the candlelight.

Rion didn’t answer—just kept moving until he reached the far corner, where sacks of flour and sugar were stacked. He placed his hand on the wall and waited a moment. Then, without so much as a groan, the stone swung away, revealing another chamber. Rion glanced back at Jack as he stepped over the flour and sugar, beckoning him on with a smile.

As Jack followed with the candle, Rion’s smile vanished, and nausea roiled in his gut.
Gone
.

Jack peered around the empty chamber curiously. “What am I meant to be looking at?” He examined Rion closely. “Were you unconscious for any period of time? Perhaps you’re confused. We really must get you to bed.”

“I’m not confused! It was here! The treasure has always been here. Always. Piled from floor to ceiling, more riches than you could imagine.”

Jack blanched. “I’m sorry. God, I’m sorry. But how? They didn’t take anything!” He waved the candle around, holding it high and then low. “Wait. What’s that?”

Blinking, Rion struggled to focus. In the center of the chamber sat a worn-looking canvas sack. He approached it cautiously and sank to his knees. Was he dreaming? Was this all in his mind? He reached out for Jack, needing to feel him, warm and alive and real.

“I’m here.” Jack pressed a kiss to Rion’s head. “Let’s see what we have.”

With a tug, Rion opened the sack. They peered in, heads close, and Jack gasped. Rion blinked, and then rubbed his eyes. He glanced at Jack. “Do you see it?”

His face a vision of wide-eyed wonder, Jack nodded. “I see it.”

Peering into the sack, it seemed to go on forever, glittering jewels and coins stretching to infinity. Yet when Rion lifted the canvas, it was as light as a pound of sugar.

“How?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know. But I think…I think it’s ready to go.”

“And are you, my giant?”

Rion took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “
Yes
.” He pressed their lips together. “Yes.”

He was free. Truly and forever.
Free
.

Chapter Eleven

“Rion, must you be so stubborn?” Hands on his hips, Jack prepared for another battle.

“Yes.” As he leaned against the headboard, Rion crossed his arms. “I must.”

A smile twitched at Jack’s lips, and he worked to stifle it. “It’s not enough to have been only a week abed. You’ve barely had time to heal.”

“I’m as good as new. I don’t need a nursemaid. Not anymore, at least. I’m perfectly capable of bathing.”

“All right. Rest while I go prepare the water.” Jack glanced over his shoulder in the doorway of Rion’s chamber, his eyebrow raised.

“Yes, yes,” Rion grumbled. “Resting.”

Rion smartly kept his tub in the kitchen since he had no servants to haul buckets of hot water. Jack whistled as he went about heating the water in a large pot over the hearth. It took several pots before he had a proper amount for a bath. He turned to go fetch Rion from upstairs and found him in the doorway, stark naked.

Jack’s mouth went dry. While Rion still sported bruises, his cuts had healed well. Jack yearned to caress his broad chest. Rion’s thick cock and big bollocks hung between his powerful thighs, swelling already under Jack’s hungry gaze. Their eyes locked, and Jack jerked his head toward the tub.

Silently, Rion crossed the kitchen and sank into the steaming water with a sigh. He tipped his head back and closed his eyes. The tub wasn’t big enough for him to extend his legs, and his knees flopped open against the sides. Desire simmering in his veins, Jack kneeled beside the tub and rolled up the sleeves of his tunic. He picked up a wedge of soap.

He started at Rion’s head, dunking his head gently to rinse the soap from his thick hair, which curled around Jack’s fingers when it was wet. He moved on to Rion’s shoulders and arms, soaping him carefully and following with a cloth. Rion murmured contentedly. As Jack circled the soap around his nipples, Rion moaned low in his throat, one of his hands moving down to grasp his cock.

“No.” Jack plucked Rion’s arm from the water and rested it over the side of the tub. “Not yet.”

Rion’s eyes darkened with need, and he licked his lips. He nodded.

As Jack cleaned Rion’s belly, he could feel the curve of Rion’s shaft nudging his hand. He teased his thumb across the head, and Rion gasped, arching his hips with a sly smile. But the smile disappeared as Jack moved to the foot of the tub and went to work on Rion’s feet. By the time he brushed the cloth across Rion’s inner thighs, Rion was fairly whimpering.

“Jack.
Please
.”

Eyes locked on Rion’s, Jack drew the soapy cloth under Rion’s bollocks to his hole. Lips parted with shallow breaths, Rion slid down in the tub, pulling up his knees to his chest, the water lapping at his chin. Jack teased with the cloth, rubbing it against the sensitive flesh. Eyes closing, Rion shuddered.

Jack discarded the cloth at the bottom of the tub and ran his fingertip around the rim of Rion’s hole. Tentatively, he pushed it just inside. Rion moaned so loudly that Jack yanked back his hand. He peered at Rion’s face anxiously. “Are you all right?”

Rion’s eyes snapped open. “I will be if you’d stop treating me like a delicate flower!” He pushed himself to his feet, splashing half the soapy contents of the tub over Jack and the kitchen floor. As Jack sputtered, Rion crushed against him in a bruising kiss. “I want you to fuck me. Enough teasing.”

Jack swallowed hard. “Truly?”

“Without a doubt.” Rion stepped from the tub and wrapped his arms around Jack, grinding his erection against Jack’s answering hardness, still confined by his breeches. “I know what it is to fuck you. To spill my seed deep inside you. You’re tight, and hot as an oven, and it’s heaven with my cock in you. I want to know what you feel.”

Jack could only groan and kiss Rion deeply. Rion reached down between then and tugged open Jack’s breeches to free his straining flesh. “I want to be fucked with your hard cock. Be stretched open. Be
filled
by you.”

Nodding, Jack stumbled back. “Not here. In your bed.”

They practically ran to Rion’s chamber. Jack yanked off his clothes and they dived onto the feather mattress, their laughter ringing. Jack pressed kisses to Rion’s wet skin, rolling him onto his back and teasing his nipples until Rion writhed beneath him, begging.

Jack shimmied down between Rion’s legs. He pushed them apart, and Rion bent his knees, his feet flat on the mattress before lifting up so Jack could put a pillow beneath his hips. Ducking his head, Jack sucked at Rion’s bollocks as Rion moaned his pleasure. His tongue darting out, Jack licked down the skin that led to Rion’s hole.

On a whim, he drew Rion’s hips up and pressed his mouth to the puckered flesh. He traced Rion’s hole with his tongue, and Rion gasped, shivering beneath Jack’s touch.

“Oh, God. Don’t stop,” Rion muttered. “Feels so good.”

Jack knew how pleasurable fingers or a cock could be in his own hole, but he’d never considered a tongue. Boldly, he plunged his inside Rion, who cried out, his back arching. Jack laved and sucked on Rion’s hole, fucking it with his tongue and mouth until Rion could only moan, limbs quivering at Jack’s touch. It was a heady rush, to have Rion so under his power. Jack wanted so much to bring Rion the deepest pleasure, to fit into his body like a hand into a glove, for that was how they felt together.

The oil sat on the bedside table where they’d left it a week ago. They’d slept curled together each night since Jack’s return, but Rion had been too injured to do anything strenuous, despite his protestations. But now, Jack reached for it gladly, pushing his slick fingers inside Rion’s virgin hole.

He wanted to see Rion’s face as he entered him. Cautiously, he lifted one of Rion’s legs and placed it on his shoulder. Nodding, Rion lifted the other, and Jack leaned over, opening him. With his cock oiled, Jack lifted Rion’s hips again and pushed into him.

Rion closed his eyes, his lips a thin line as Jack inched his cock inside. Jack’s arms shook as he kept himself in check, wanting so much to recklessly plunge inside Rion’s heat. Instead he pressed gentle kisses to Rion’s eyes and cheeks, his chin and forehead, the tip of his nose. “I love you,” he murmured.

Opening his eyes, Rion smiled. “Yes. I’m yours. Make me yours.”

They kissed, their tongues stroking and teasing, and Jack thrust all the way, buried to the hilt in Rion. To actually be inside another man—inside
Rion
—was astonishing. His whole body was on fire, and sweat dripped down his spine. Rion gazed at him with such love and trust, and Jack kissed him tenderly.

He was patient, moving inch by inch as Rion adjusted to the burn. Before long, Rion was squeezing around him, urging him to thrust harder, harder,
harder
.

“Make me yours,” he mumbled, groaning.

Bending Rion practically in half, Jack fucked him, stretching him open as he begged for more. Reaching between their slick bodies, Jack stroked Rion’s leaking cock, angling his hips one way and the next until Rion cried out, vibrating like a string plucked on a lute as Jack found the spot.

Rion’s hot seed spurt from him in long strands, painting his chest, and he clamped down on Jack, his head thrown back and mouth open in ecstasy. Jack thrust faster, his bollocks tightening as his own release overtook him, his seed pumping deep into Rion’s body. Shaking, Jack cried out Rion’s name.

Mine
.

He pulled out gently, lowering Rion’s legs to the bed before stretching atop him, resting his head on Rion’s chest. Beneath his ear, he could hear
the thump-thump-thump
of Rion’s heartbeat matching his own, eventually slowing as they returned from flight. Rion wrapped his arms around Jack and kissed the top of his head.

“I suppose I need another bath.”

Their laughter filled the room, and Jack imagined it must ring out across the whole of the sky.

“Ready?”

The wide ledge of the terrace felt impossibly narrow beneath Jack’s feet. He pressed back against Rion’s reassuring warmth. The kite had wrapped them and their only possession, the worn canvas sack, securely in its silk. There was nothing to do now but leap. Somehow there wasn’t a cloud in the sky this day, and in the distance the sea glittered, a deep blue of endless possibilities.